Promise
by TitanSlayer99
Summary: The final battle. Eren is pushed to the edge, and his promise is tested. Eremika. T for slight gore.


This was the final expedition for the Scouting Legion. The goal: Eliminate the Ape, Armored, Female, and Colossal Titans. It is all or nothing. If humanity loses, there is no hope against the Titans. If they win, humanity will be able to break free from the walls and reclaim the Earth without living in fear of the Titans.

Erwin was out of commission because of his arm that had been chomped off during the recapture of Eren Jaeger, so the role of Commander has been passed on to Armin. He was in quite a shock when he received his orders as Commander of the 58th Expedition.

" I still don't even know why they made ME Commander of the most important mission ever."

"Relax, Armin." Jean started, "You'll make a great Commander. You've always made the right decisions that saved our lives multiple times over. Just keep your head up and you'll do great."

"Alright, I'm still nervous, but I'll try my best!" The blonde's blue eyes blazed with determination.

"That's what we like to hear! Let's take a look at the battle plan before we regroup with the rest of the Legion."

The battle plan was a simple, head-to-head battle, to determine the decisive victor of the war between titans and humans. There are five squads: three squads are responsible for the direct battling of the titans, one squad sends reinforcements when the red flare is shot, and one squad will be in charge of supplying and resupplying the legionnaires when the green flare is shot. Eren Jaeger is assigned the task of eliminating the armored titan by utilizing his Titan-shifting abilities.

The first squad will engage and eliminate the Female titan. This squad consists of these soldiers:

Name

Skill Rank (Out of Entire Legion)

Position

R. Levi

#1

Squad Leader

M. Ackerman

#2

F. Kurtz

#6

The second squad will engage and eliminate the Ape Titan. This squad consists of these soldiers:

Name

Rank (Out of Entire Legion)

Position

Z. Hanji

#3

Squad Leader

R. Polo

#4

J. Kirchstein

#7

The third quad will engage and eliminate the Colossal Titan. His squad consists of these soldiers:

Name

Rank (Out of Entire Legion)

Position

F. Reins

#5

Squad Leader

T. Whaler

#8

G. Spindle

#9

This legionnaire will engage and eliminate the Armored Titan alone using his Titan-shifting ability.

Name

Rank (Out of Entire Legion)

Position

Eren Jaeger

N/A

Sasha, Krista, and Connie were assigned to the supply team. Ymir is still out of commission from the last encounter with armored titan, where she chose the Legion's side.

"Do you think Eren can pull it off? Beating the Armored titan by himself, I mean." Jean asked.

"Yes, I strongly believe he can. His training with Hanji has improved his control of his titan form significantly, and hand-to-hand combat training with Levi will give him a heavy edge against Reiner. There was no point in assigning soldiers to help Eren fight, as they will only get caught in the battle."

"I see. How did Mikasa react to this, when she found out Eren had to go mano-on-mano with the armored titan."

"She started fighting with the squad leaders and ordered them to allow her to help Eren. I finally convinced her that it was okay after long hours of reasoning. Anyway, how are you feeling, Jean? Are you up to fight the Ape Titan?"

"I want to kill that bastard so badly, but I'm still really nervous. We've been briefed on his incredible regeneration abilities and that we must gouge his eyes and strike his chest to kill him, but that guy throws surprises everywhere, so the fear still gets to me. It's not a big deal though; I've been aching to kill that guy for a long time."

"All members of the Scouting Legion participating in the 58th expedition beyond the walls; report to the Wall Rose main gate. Commander Armin Arlert, please report with your formation layout." A messenger called.

"Alright, Jean, let's do this."

"Good luck."

"Good luck, don't die."

Armin fitted his 3D maneuver gear and headed towards the main gate on his horse. By coincidence, he spotted Mikasa riding across from him.

He rode up next to her. " Hey."

"Hey." She replied, as stoic as ever. But Armin could tell she was nervous through the glint in her gray eyes, but probably for Eren. "Where's Eren."

"He should already be there."

"Aren't you the Commander? Shouldn't you be there first?"

"I was going over the battle details with Jean. He's the only other member of the 104th trainee squad besides you, Eren, and I who was hand-picked to participate in this mission. So I tried to calm his nerves a little."

"I still think I should be allowed to help Eren."

"Last time Eren faced the armored titan, he managed to suppress it. He's been training vigorously with Levi in his hand-to-hand combat skills and he might even be on par with you. There is an low chance he will lose his battle, so you should focus on winning yours. Defeating the Female Titan is no easy feat, even with you a Lance Corporal Rivaille fighting. It requires absolute concentration, so you can't be constantly worrying about Eren."

"Whatever. I'll try."

"When have I ever been wrong?" Armin smirked.

Mikasa has noticed that Armin's confidence has increased greatly, he even began boasting slightly.

"We're almost there. HIYAAH!" Armin flicked the reins on his horse when he saw the horde of Scouting Legion members who were awaiting for the command to initiate the mission.

Lately, Armin has begun recognizing his talents, thanks to his comrades. His thoughts of being a burden to other people have been completely washed away. His friends, mainly Eren and Mikasa, have taught him that he is more than a burden and that he is worth something.

"Commander Armin, welcome." Levi mumbled. He was obviously not happy with the fact that he must follow the orders of a sixteen year-old, but Erwin hand-picked Armin, so Levi figured he would go with his judgment.

"Hello, Lance Corporal Levi." Armin dismounted is horse and stood in front of the crowd of the most elite soldiers in humanity's arsenal. He took a deep breath and began his speech : " Fellow comrades, it is an honor to work and fight alongside humanity's finest soldiers and most valiant heroes. I will be commanding this expedition on orders from former Commander Erwin. You all have been briefed on the formation and battle plan. If reinforcements are needed, fire a red smoke to signal the reinforcements . If resupply for gas and blades are needed, fire the green smoke to signal the supply squad. Aim for the weak points we briefed you on, and strike to kill. This is all or nothing; humanity's final battle against the Titans. We will show them humanity's power, WE-WILL-BE-THE-VICTOOOOOOORS!"

"HYYAAAAAAAAAH!" The Legion roared in approval and raised their blades.

It took Armin a few seconds to gather himself again. By now everyone was on their horses and ready to go. "Now, we will commence the 58th expedition beyond the walls!" The gate opened and the Legion raced into the terrain; capes waving and horses thundering.

"Now, break into formation!" Armin commanded.

The formation is shown here :

Armin

Squad 2 Squad 1 Squad 3

Reinforcements

Supply

They finally reached the forest of giant trees. They spotted three huge explosions and flashes of light. Out of the smoke appeared the Ape, Female, and Colossal Titan. The Colossal titan tore a plane of trees as it stood and picked them up, he held them in his hands and began launching them at the Legion.

"SPREAD OUT!" Armin screamed.

The first tree landed with bone-shattering impact; the horses wavered in fear. Splinters flew everywhere, one pierced Armin's teeth and he tasted blood.

"Transfer to 3D Maneuver Gear! Squads one, two, and three engage the assigned targets immediately. Supply and Reinforcement squads, standby in the rear of the forest and await signal flare!"

The sounds of wires and bursting gas filled the air as the Legion soared into the trees. The battle that decides everything has begun.

The fourth flash was delayed, but it was noticeable. The armored titan appeared out of the smoke in the flat terrain next the forest. A perfect setting for titans to have a battle to the death.

"I AM NOW ENGAGING THE BASTARD ARMORED TITAN!" Eren yelled. He jumped off his horse, and shot gas which launched him into the air. He bit down on his thumb and a fifth explosion appeared.

It was impossible not to notice Eren's roar. Every soldier took a moment to glance over at Eren's titan, many never saw it before this moment. It was a truly terrifying yet incredible sight. Eren's titan was 15 meters all, ripped with lean muscle, had long black hair, and glowing green eyes that sent shivers through everyone's body. He bellowed at the armored titan with unmatched intensity.

The armored titan was just as intimidating : 18 meters tall, plated armor, ripped muscle, and golden eyes. As much as people wanted to watch the titanic fight, they had their own battles to win.

Eren's view

"Alright, remember training. Aim for the back of the knees, use locks, and tear muscle instead of punching and kicking." Eren thought to himself.

They had a little stare-down until Eren lunged at him. He faked a right hook to get Reiner to dodge to the left so he could use his one of his locks. Instead, Reiner thrust right into his hook. Eren roared as his right arm was shattered.

"What the…? Since when did people counter attacks by attacking back the same time and point?" Eren exclaimed.

Eren then attempted to punch Reiner's face so he could blind him temporarily, turn around, and use a lock. Instead, Reiner countered with a punch of his own, the collision of the two fists sent shock-waves through the surrounding radius. Eren's left hand exploded from the impact, and Reiner didn't even have a scratch on him.

"This guy is really pissing me off. How did he get so good? He's slow, though. I just need surprise him, then hit him fast and hard."

Eren faked a step with left leg, then he crouched and quickly swung is right leg at the back of Reiner's knees, he couldn't react fast enough, and he toppled over.

Eren seized this opportunity and put Reiner in a headlock using his legs. His arms did not heal yet so he couldn't hold him down. Reiner began to stand up with Eren wrapped around his neck.

"No way. There is no way he can hold my weight. _No_ way."

Reiner stood up completely, with Eren still on his neck, but the armored titan's legs can only hold so much weight. After a moment the strands and strips of his leg muscles exploded with blood, and Reiner toppled over once again. Eren realizes his arms have fully regenerated now. At the corner of his eye, he could see blue signal flare, which meant they had defeated the Colossal Titan.

"This is my chance."

Eren's back was now laying on Reiner, and his legs were still holding the armored titan in a headlock. Eren locked Reiner's arm and began pulling on his armpit; one of the only places without armor. Reiner roared as his right arm was being torn off of his body.

Eren returned Reiner's roar with a bellow his own, twice as loud and ferocious.

"Don't yell at me like you know what anger is, I'LL FREAKING TEAR YOU APART!"

Eren's roar amplified and sounded much more intense and vicious. All of the legionaries had to cover their ears, even when fighting..

He then ripped Reiner's arm off and threw it several hundred meters away. He was going to do the same with Reiner's other arm until he noticed Reiner's armor disappearing.

"Oh no, I remember this."

But it was too late, Reiner struck with blinding speed and elbowed Eren in the face using his left arm. The sheer force of the collision broke Reiner's elbow and burst his arm muscle. Eren's eyes exploded and his vision went black. The shock wave rippled through his body and caused blood to burst everywhere. Reiner then pushed Eren off of his back and swiftly kicked his neck. Eren's head went soaring through the sky.

"How? Why? Why can't I ever win? Why do I always remain the little nine year-old brat I was five years ago? I'm sorry, Mom. I'm _so _sorry."

Eren slid out of his titan's carcass. He could not move at all, the fatigue barely allowed him to breath.

There was a scream, "EREN!", it was Mikasa.

She caught the Armored Titan off-guard and quickly sliced through the backs of both its knees. Reiner fell to his knees and desperately tried to grab her using his remaining arm, but she was too fast. Mikasa quickly somersaulted past his hand and shot a wire at a tree next to him. Reiner punched the tree but Mikasa jumped away at the last second. Now having momentum, she began spinning herself like a wheel, and darted up Reiner's chest. She stabbed his eyes and jumped away before the steam burned her to a crisp. A painful roar escaped Reiner's mouth. She then continued slicing at his weak spots relentlessly.

"Why? Why does it always end up like this? Why does she always end up saving me? Even with these damn Titan powers, I still can't do jack. Power….I need _power_." Eren thought to himself.

Then, Mikasa tripped; the steam blinded her field of vision so she couldn't shoot her wire accurately. Her wires were tangled together and she began plummeting to the ground. At the last second she shot a burst of gas to cushion her fall, but no doubt some bones were broken, and she had just recovered from the last mission.

"_Power_." Eren chanted as his body was engulfed in a bright, blazing flame. "_Power_. I need power or she'll die. I have to save her. I can only do that with power."

Reiner began reaching for Mikasa as she desperately tried to crawl away.

"_Power… _I NEED POWER!" Eren's entire body was engulfed in flames.

Just before Reiner could could grab Mikasa, there was a thunderous explosion and a blinding flash.

The explosion shook the ground with immense force, and steam was rapidly emanating from the site of the explosion. Everyone stopped to stare at the pillar of steam.

The only thing anyone could make out through the thick steam was a pair of glowing, crimson eyes, which were the color of fresh blood. A huge leg stepped out of the cloud of steam, then another, until the form was clearly visible. It was Eren in his titan form except he was over 20 meters tall and had a pair of burning, crimson eyes. His body was emanating a glowing aura that radiated might.

"I'm going to save everyone. This time, I won't fail." Eren said aloud in his titan form. A gasp could be heard from the Legion as they tried to register what was going on and the fact that Eren's titan just spoke.

He glanced at Reiner, Annie, and the Ape titan as they were staring and said aloud, "Fight me, if you are prepared to die."

Eren roared. Not his usual, ferocious, and out-of-control roar; but a deep and stale bellow that stilled fear into everyone's heart. He began running and shook the ground below him. The shock-wave of his moving body released a powerful burst of wind which threatened to rip trees from their roots.

Eren slammed his fist into the center Reiner's chest. Shards of armor flew in every direction along with spraying blood. The sheer force of the blow was enough to make Reiner fly backwards and land with a huge 'BOOM!'

"I'll kill all of you. Each and everyone of you Titans." Eren said aloud once more.

Once his legs healed, Reiner began charging at Eren. Reiner punched him square in the face with all his might. Eren didn't even flinch ; he just stood there and took it, the blow didn't even scratch him. Reiner on the other hand, once again, had his arm erupt from the collision.

With incredible speed, Eren grabbed Reiner's face and began squeezing and crushing it with one hand. Reiner tried desperately to pry Eren's arm off of his face by kicking and pushing him, but to no avail. Eren continued crushing Reiner's face, blood spraying between his fingers.

"How does it feel to be weak. To know you can't win." Eren began to squeeze harder.

Reiner roared in pain and struggled for a couple more seconds before his body went limp. Reiner slid out of the nape of his titan's neck, unconscious. Eren was preparing to stomp on him until he heard a shout, "WATCH OUT! TO YOUR RIGHT!", Eren quickly turned and crossed his arms to block the Female Titan's kick. He grabbed her leg and tossed her like a rag doll into the air, trees fell when she landed. Eren quickly made his way to the injured Mikasa and put her on the palm of his hands.

"E-Eren?" She whimpered.

"Yes." He replied, in his demonic titan voice. He then placed her on one of the medical carts before strutting over to the broken body of the female titan. Annie slowly got up and hardened the skin on her fists, going into here signature position. Eren too, hardened his skin, but the crystal grew sharply outwards from his wrists and formed a pair of deadly blades.

Annie hardened the skin on her shin and kicked Eren's leg. Eren met her kick with a kick of his own, which caused her leg to rip apart from her body and go tumbling across the plain. She lost balance and fell forward. As she fell forward, Eren met her face with his knee. Annie's face exploded with blood and steam. Eren then took his right 'blade' and stabbed her right through the nape of the neck. Blood was seeping out of it, and Eren knew it was human blood.

"No!", a faint cry that sounded like Reiner. Reiner let out another inaudible cry before Eren squashed him.

"Three down, one to go." Eren exclaimed before he went sprinting into the forest, toppling any trees in his path.

Eren tackled the Ape Titan with immeasurable force and they went skidding hundreds of meters into the horizon. Eren stabbed the Ape Titan through his heart, and broke the blade off to let its body regenerate around it. The Ape Titan let out a screeching howl.

"Shut up. This is all your fault. Now join the rest of your kind in the depths of hell, bastard." Eren said before stomping down on his head, instantly killing the Ape, and the last of the titans.

They had won. Humanity won. Eren let out a victory roar before his body erupted in steam. When the steam disappeared he was in his original, 15m titan body. Then he toppled over from exhaustion and passed out.

"_I wanna be the knight, Armin!" _cried little Eren.

"_Alright then, you can be the knight, Mikasa can be the princess and I can be the Duke."_

"_What's a Duke?"_

"_I don't know, but in the book it says he's a smart person that reports the King."_

"_That's so boring."_

"_Well, it is the only person left."_

"_Ok, so what am I supposed to do now?"_

"_Well after you beat all the bad guys-"_

"_YEAH! After I beat all the Titans then what do I do"_

"_Well, you're supposed to marry the princess, explore the outside kingdoms, and live happily every after."_

"_I'm supposed to m-m-marry Mikasa?!" _His cheeks flushed beet red.

"_Y-you don't want to?"_, Mikasa faintly murmured. She had been quietly listening to their conversation.

"_What?No, I never said that. O-okay, then. After I beat the bad guys, I'll m-marry Mikasa."_

"_Promise.", _murmured Mikasa again, even more faintly.

"_What?!"_

"_Promise."_

"_Um, o-okay, I p-promise. After I beat the bad guys, I'll m-marry Mikasa, and explore the outside kingdoms."_

Mikasa pulled her scarf up to hide her smile.

Eren's eyes slowly opened. He found himself in a bed in the infirmary. In the room was Armin, Jean, and Mikasa. His face lit up when he saw her; he tried to hide it, but she saw him.

"Wakey-wakey, hero-boy.", said Jean nonchalantly, with his signature smirk glued on his face. Eren noticed his arm was in a sling.

"W-what happened to your-"

"It's just a scratch. I was about to get that hairy bastard bastard before you came charging in. What was that all about, anyway?"

"I don't know. I think it was my Coordinate power."

"Well, whatever. After you passed out we regrouped and head back to the walls. Everyone was cheering during Armin's speech. He was all like 'Humanity has finally defeated the Titans once and for all!', it was pretty badass."

"It was nothing." Armin blushed.

Eren glanced at Mikasa. Armin signaled Jean that they should leave. "I'll see you around later, Eren"

"Catch you later, Jaeger." Jean remarked, before the two of them were out the door.

Mikasa walked over and sat on the edge the bed.

"How are you walking?," Eren leaned up, "I thought you-"

"I just dislocated my knees. It was easy enough for the medics to put them back into place, they let me rest for a few ours."

"You still shouldn't be walking around."

"It's alright, I'm fine. I only walked because I wanted to see you, anyway."

Eren couldn't help but blush. He realized how beautiful Mikasa was, he always new but he never actually looked for the sake of looking. Her fair skin, high cheekbones, lovely dark hair, long eyelashes, and her eyes which looked like pools of ink with a hint of steely blue in them.

Eren rested s head back down on the pillow. " How was the mission.?" He asked.

"A complete success,other than the only death."

"Who was it?"

"Squad Leader Reins. He was killed-in-action; his funeral is a couple days from today."

"We should probably go.

"Mhm."

"What happens now?"

"The King is making preparations for people to start moving outside the walls, but the Scouting Legion must survey the radius first, just in case. Participants of the 58th Expedition are rewarded by the King with a house, supplies, bonds, and a horse outside the walls. They consider us all heroes, especially you. The king promised the members of the expedition with a life-time's worth of food and money."

"You'll think that greedy man will keep his promise?"

"Commander Pixis is making sure that he'll keep it."

She quickly stared at her feet.

"What, Mikasa?"

"People should keep their promises right?"

"Yeah, so?" The memory of that day when Armin, Mikasa, and Eren were playing as characters in a story played through his mind.

"Well, remember when you promised that-," she continued, "Well, you p-promised that you'll m-"

She was interrupted when Eren pressed his lips against her. Her eyes fluttered shut and she returned the kiss. She was surprised for a moment, but soon her emotions melted into his lips. She couldn't believe this was happening, its was like a dream, only real.

After a few seconds, he then parted from her and said, "I beat all the bad guys, right? Now I have to marry the princess."

She couldn't help but smile against his lips when they kissed again.

"_Thanks, Mom.," _Eren thought to himself, "_Thanks for everything."_

He slowly removed the red scarf around neck and retied it around her, making sure the end would go fall in her face. "Well, Mrs. Jaeger? Let's go home, to _our_ home."

She tried to speak, but she couldn't. She was so happy that she was afraid that if she spoke, only stuttering would come out. Instead, she nodded.

He smiled and gently held her hand as they made their way out the door to meet up with Armin and the others.


End file.
